Lola Browne walks through Sue Bierman Park on Wednesday Feb. 10, 2010 in San Francisco, Calif. A 38-story condominium tower proposed for 555 Washington Street may cast shadows on the park which is in violation of current city rules.

The Recreation and Park Commission unanimously approved an ambitious budget-balancing plan Thursday that would put more concession stands in city parks, charge out-of-towners extra to visit the city's botanical gardens and the Coit Tower, and sell off or lease surplus public property.

But the vote does not end the debate. The package of ideas presented by Recreation and Park Department administrators to raise revenue and cut costs now moves to the mayor for consideration, and then to the Board of Supervisors - where the real battles will be fought.

Department officials, faced with closing a $12.4 million funding shortfall to balance the $117 million annual operating budget, primarily want to bring in more money to stave off cuts.

"We all understand that we have been confronted with some very difficult choices and frankly have an opportunity to change the status quo, and the status quo is a department that is inadequately funded. The status quo is a department that has had to cut and cut its resources every year for the past five or six years," said Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the Recreation and Park Department.

"We've all agreed that enough is enough. The mission of this department is important enough to San Franciscans that it deserves to be funded sustainably and adequately," he said.

The recommendations run the gamut - from charging a fee to private boot-camp operators who use the parks for their exercise programs to opening an ice rink in Civic Center Plaza during the winter.

Metered parking

The department is considering implementing metered parking in Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park and the Marina Green and renting out pools, clubhouse and recreation centers one day a week.

In addition, the budget plan calls for reducing the number of on-duty lifeguards at the municipal pools from three to two and laying off a handful of gardeners.

Two plans, however, stirred up the most public controversy: selling or leasing what essentially are vacant lots owned by the department in such neighborhoods as the Ingleside, the Western Addition, Diamond Heights and the Bayview, and for the first time charging an entrance fee for noncity residents to the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park.

"I'm not happy about anybody selling my parkland. We have a major problem getting open space. ... It's easy to sell; you'll never get it back," said long-time parks activist Nancy Wurfel.

Department officials say the approximately half-dozen properties under consideration have little use as public parks because of their size and location but could perhaps yield $300,000 per parcel for private development. Any sale of park property would need voter approval, making the recommendation a longshot.

The idea for the botanical gardens is one resurrected from last year that went down in defeat amid strong public opposition. Under the plan, nonlocals would pay $7 to enter the gardens, a landscaped sanctuary within Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans would continue to get free admittance.

"Gating access to publicly owned, taxpayer-supported spaces is not the right direction to go," said David Eldred, who leads the group KeepArboretumFree.org and was one of several speakers opposed to the idea. "Your action will create a permanent and irreversible historic change."

Entry fees

Commission President Mark Buell said the concept is not unusual, that cities across the country have entry fees to their botanical gardens. Ginsburg said that if the plan does not go forward, he will suggest laying off three of the 11 gardeners who tend to the gardens to save money.

With the exceptions of the surplus property and botanical gardens proposals, there was little opposition to the rest of the budget-balancing plan. Even recreation workers, who would have to reapply for newly defined jobs with the department under the proposal, generally applauded management's initiatives, which carry the promise of saving jobs and enhancing programs and services.